His lawyers released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, saying: “We have recently learned for last several days the juvenile probation officer has been unable to make contact with Ethan or his mother, with whom he’s been residing.

"It’s our understanding that the court has issued a directive to apprehend to have Ethan detained (sic) because he is out of contact with his probation officer. We do not have any further information concerning this situation. It would not be appropriate for us to publicly discuss this matter further at this time."

The disappearance comes after video surfaced of him at a beer-pong party, even though he was under court order to not to drink alcohol. It is not clear if Couch was drinking.

In 2013, Couch killed four people while driving drunk in his pickup truck near Fort Worth, Texas. He was 16 at the time.